In August 1944 a horizontal 44" wide yellow band, trimmed at the top and the bottom with a 2" wide black stripe. Was added to the upper tail section of all group aircraft. At the same time, the fuselage codes were directed to be applied in black paint. February 1945 all the codes were ordered to be removed from the fuselage area altogether. The familiar 48" call-letter on the tail remained.

Mission 225 Target : Hagen.
Five minutes after taking off She came back to the airfield with two engines out and made what the control tower called 'a pretty hot landing', eventually going off the end of the runway. The crew quickly changed into the spare PFF ship, and were airborne within 20 minutes of landing. - Back - Stock code: KW172173

Assigned to 549th squadron on 24th April 1944, "Homesick Angel" was named by Robert Milligan who described the plane as "... easy to handle and a dream to fly -- like a good woman!" Anne Haywood's first painting showed a more scantily clad figure which higher authority order to be covered.

This was an all too common cry with many nose art paintings which were deemed to have been inappropriate. "Cover up or clean off!" was the order of the day. Anne painted the crew's jackets with this design which, enlarged to full size on the side of the B17G, proved to be a colourful image not easily missed.

Flak shot out two engines on 15th August 1944 over Munster. Attempting to reach the North Sea, pilot Lt Rosener was forced to ditch prematurely into the Zuider Zee. The crew scrambled into their dingies and were picked up by Dutch fishermen -- but later had to be handed over to a German patrol boat. A replacement Fort at Great Ashfield was named as "Angel's Sister".

Arriving at Great Ashfield in mid June 1944, the aircraft suffered severe damage in November but survived and continued until hostilities ceased. By which time it successfully completed 76 combat missions and had been flown by more than 30 different crews.
It was flown back to Bradley Field, USA, a year after arrival in England and was scrapped at Kingman Field, Arizona at the end of 1945.

This was one of Starcer's rare nudes and it showed the high level of skill and paint manipulation that he achieved. The flesh tones are superb although the girl's legs are extraordinarily long. As with many of his nose art paintings, Starcer included his signature -- a useful aid, if one is needed, for historians.

"Anxious Angel" accrued over 70 combat missions, more than one third of them were flown by Dick Gibson's crew who named the plane and commissioned Starcer to paint its raunchy artwork. Towards the end of the war, the aircraft was fitted with radio counter measure equipment to confuse German ground radar which guided the flak gunners and fighters, no doubt causing many an anxious moment for plane and crew. Surviving hostilities, "Anxious Angel" was flown back to the USA on 8th June 1945 with a crew of ten plus ten passenger ground crew.